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What Makes a Great Editor? Part I.

“I am not the editor of a newspaper and shall always try to do right and be good so that God will not make me one.”

So wrote Mark Twain, thus contributing to a rich heritage of comments cutting up the editing profession.

But what of the good editors or even the great ones? What’s the essence of their craft? We turned to some top Times journalists for their thoughts. We will roll out more answers on Wednesday. Today, David Carr, Frank Bruni and Gretchen Morgenson reflect on the question. Read part 2 and part 3.

DAVID CARR

Media columnist and reporter

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Credit Earl Wilson/The New York Times

Editors create fine stories by typing on a keyboard composed of human beings. Knowing which key to hit when and how hard to press it is both art and craft. The greats manage to be both collegial and decisive.
At bottom, editing is an act of assertion. This is good, this is bad, this is fine. A good editor is right most of the time, making copy better every time she or he touches it. The greats do the same for the people who produce that copy.

A good editor is the enemy of clichés and tropes, but not the overburdened writer who occasionally resorts to them. Judgment, a good bedside manner and an ability to conjure occasional magic in the space between writer and editor is rare, but can produce treasure.

FRANK BRUNI

Op-Ed columnist

Photo

Credit Earl Wilson/The New York Times

A great editor is like a great meatloaf. By which I mean: There is a multitude of kinds, and all get the job done, deploying different recipes for the same result, which is your nourishment. A meatloaf is going to have nonnegotiable elements: meat and an egg or two and bread crumbs and probably onions. A great editor is also sure to have a certain foundation of ingredients, which I’ll hereby list.

A great editor revels in your best moments often enough to soften the mentions of your worst ones. A great editor knows when to push you a little harder and when that will only sow frustration. A great editor makes you feel safe and supported enough to take chances, but pipes up when you’re taking a truly stupid one. A great editor tells you to get to the point faster, because most of us don’t get to the point fast enough. A great editor remembers that you’ve used a joke twice before and that it was only funny the first time, and only marginally so then. A great editor picks up the bar tab. That last part is the most important of all.

GRETCHEN MORGENSON

Business columnist and reporter

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Credit Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

The best editor is the person who can take a modest story and make it big, broad and powerful. Believe it or not, some editors take big stories and make them small. But the great editor is one who pushes a reporter to widen a story’s scope or one who recognizes an impact in the story that the reporter might not have seen initially.

Another crucial characteristic of the great editor: She or he stands behind the reporter throughout any firestorm that ensues. A spine of steel is imperative.